College Counsel for the Poor – WSJ. I suggest this excellent article. I commented. “In their insightful book, Paying for the Party – How College Maintains Inequality, Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton, show that a major reason why many students need outside counseling is not just the students’ background. It is also the fact that […]
NY Times Column on Value of a Liberal Education
April 16, 2015 by
Starving for Wisdom – NYTimes.com I also recommend this fine article or the short version. When I was a Freshman at Carnegie Tech (Now Carnegie-Mellon), we had to take a course in composition, followed by a course in literature. I don’t remember everything we read in the composition course, but here is the best I can […]
Do the Richest (Universities) Have Enough? And A Contest for Grads:)
April 16, 2015 by
Rich colleges and universities are getting a lot richer, study finds – The Washington Post. You can explore further by clicking on “endowments” in the Tag Cloud (on the right). I especially recommend this post for some financial facts that surprise many; or, if you are familiar with financial statements, look at schools like Stanford. […]
Pressure to Please Students – It’s All Over the Place
April 13, 2015 by
Dan Laroque responded (on the WSJ site)to my previous post. I think it is important because, I have only taught at 3 places. From that and newspaper articles, books, and data, I deduce behavior elsewhere. His comment adds to our understanding. Here it is. “By the time I retired I was fully disgusted with fake teaching. […]
Moved Quotes
April 9, 2015 by
Demand for Skilled-Worker Visas Exceeds Annual Supply – WSJ
April 8, 2015 by
Demand for Skilled-Worker Visas Exceeds Annual Supply – WSJ. My comment and explanation: “In a nutshell, these two items explain this story. 1. Washington U. in St. Louis, “make it the normal ‘cookbook’ course..so we don’t have trouble [with students]…” (Chair of Math Dep’t speaking to me about a critical course for engineers); on another […]
The Upwardly Mobile Barista – The Atlantic
The Upwardly Mobile Barista – The Atlantic. I commented. “I’m a former math professor. (I last taught at Wash. U. in St. Louis.) This article describes a wonderful and laudable effort by Starbucks’s Howard Schultz. But it never asks the question: What’s between the buns? Is there really any beef wrapped up in those degrees? […]